The Tale Of Lightning Stripes
by TwentyPercentCooler
Summary: When a mysterious pegasus mare turns up in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash is unsure of what to make of her. That is, until she discovers that she holds an important link to Dash's past, and future...


**Hey there.**

**This is my first fanfic here so...here goes. Not much to say apart from my lovely disclaimer.**

**My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the corresponding characters belong to Hasbro and the _super duper awesome _Lauren Faust. Don't sue me.**

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><p>The sun set a pleasant summer haze over Ponyville, and Applejack, taking a short break in her bucking work to catch her breath, gazed up at the sky and smiled. Her thoughts drifted over to a certain rainbow pony, and she frowned. Rainbow Dash was scheduled, once again, to help her. And, once again, she had declined, having blamed her absence on being "busy". <em>Yeah, <em>thought Applejack with a resentful glance at the ground, _I know you're busy... _she looked up into the next apple tree, and was a mixture of surprised and annoyed to find Rainbow Dash sleeping within its branches. _Busy...napping. Again._

"Rainbow Dash?" she called. No reply. Rainbow gave a sigh in her sleep and rolled over on her branch, now facing towards the trunk. "Rainbow Dash!" Applejack called again. When she heard nothing, she gave a snort, before muttering, "Right, that does it!", and lifting her hindquarters, she bucked the tree with considerable force. A light blue blur tumbled out of the tree, followed by a yell and a number of apples.

"Applejack! What the hay was that for?" Rainbow Dash sat up and rubbed her head before glaring at the orange land-pony.

"What have Ah told you about nappin' in my apple trees? Busy my hooves! You were just bein' a lazy old mare like you always have been!" Applejack fired back.

"Yeah...well, I need sleep as much as the next pony..."

"You have all the clouds in the sky to sleep in!"

"Not really," said Rainbow Dash, pointing up at the sky, which was completely cloudless. With a satisfied smirk, she continued, "the weather team scheduled a perfect day." Applejack tore at the ground with one hoof.

"Would you just stop messin' with me for _once, _Dash? Ah have enough work to do here without you makin' my life into some sorta prank! Ah really cain't..."

Applejack was cut off by a friendly voice ahead. "My little ponies, why are you arguing?" A dark blue pegasus landed near by, and the air around her seemed to radiate with gold. Her mane and tail were shimmering rivers of silver, and her cutie mark, three golden bolts of sharp lightning, glittered in the morning light. The two young ponies turned to face her, their eyes shining with awe.

"Now, what seems to be the matter?" she asked quietly. Applejack felt her face flush with embarrassment.

"Uh...well...Rainbow here...she was uh..nappin' in one of my apple trees, ma'am..And uh...I was try'na work, see..." Applejack trailed off, staring at the ground. Rainbow Dash scuffed her front right hoof in the dust awkwardly.

"Yeah, well...I had no other place to nap, right? And it wasn't exactly neighbourly of you to buck me out...But anyway," she said, suddenly shooting a piercing glare at the mystery mare, "who are you?"

The older pegasus' smile didn't falter once. "I know it may seem hard to agree on things like this, especially when neither of you are in the wrong. But, as a solution, perhaps Rainbow here could look for somewhere to nap that won't intrude someone's work. And..." the stranger pointed at Applejack, hinting for her name.

"Applejack."

"...and Applejack should, in turn, respect Rainbow as she respects the tree her friend was napping in. Bucking her out could have caused an injury." As the pegasus concluded her short lecture, the two ponies sighed.

"Ah'm sorry, Rainbow. Ah shouldn't have been so forceful."

"I guess I'm sorry too. I'll look harder for a napping place next time, promise." she then gave another sceptical look at the blue mare. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"My name is Lightning Stripes." Lightning held out a hoof for Applejack, shaking it, before turning to Dash. "It's a pleasure to see you after so long, Rainbow Dash. You remind me so much of your mother!" she chuckled. Rainbow Dash looked perplexed.

"Hey, how do you know my full name? And what does my mother have to do with this? And I've never met you before in my life!"

"I think you have, Rainbow. It's a long story...Hey, I could tell it to you, if you were both willing to join me for lunch? I haven't been to Ponyville in so long; it will be nice to look around." Applejack responded first.

"That sure would be nice, ma'am...but..what am Ah gonna tell my brother? Ah'm s'posed to be workin' here all day..."

Lightning gave a wink. "Tell him you'll be escorting a retired Wonderbolt to lunch, I think you'll somehow get around him."

Applejack gasped, then grinned at Dash, who had burst into a fit of "_Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh..." _before turning and heading further through the orchard where Big Macintosh was working.

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><p>"Hey, Big Macintosh!"<p>

Big Macintosh spun around to see his younger sister cantering up to him, beaming. "Applejack, Ah'm try'na work here."

"But this is real important, Ah swear!"

"Eeeyup..." Big Macintosh bucked a tree with ease, paying little attention to Applejack's obvious excitement. "Well, what is it you wanted?"

"Uh... would ya mind if Ah went out to lunch with somepony?"

"That depends on _who _this somepony is."

"Her name's Lightning Stripes, sh-" Applejack was promptly cut off by her brother. "_The _Lightning Stripes? She's..._here? _Great horseapples! Do Ah look okay, sis? Does mah saddle suit me?" Macintosh had jumped from his work and begun smoothing down his coat and looking anxiously around.

"You look fine. Heh...you have a crush on her, doncha?"

Macintosh gulped and blushed. "Well...uh...see, when you were the tiniest filly, Ah always kinda...y'now, thought she was...y'now...admirable."

"_Admirable,_" Applejack repeated with a giggle. "You keep tellin' yourself that, Mac. So, can Ah go to lunch with her?"

Macintosh attempted to regain his composure. "Uh...sure. Just make sure you do yer weight's worth after, ya hear?"

"Sure thing, big brother." And with a wink, Applejack left her brother to continue his work, his cheeks just a bit more flushed than before.

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><p><strong>Well, that's Chapter 1 done and dusted. I'm going on vacation pretty soon so I'm not sure when this'll get finished up, but it's most likely to be a 3-chapter story and it will get done. :)<strong>

**Hope you liked it: please review!**


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